Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 4, 2020 QQQIf you beat England, it’s an easier trip to the Co-op to buy your milk!
has a bad atmosphere have not
been there.
‘It’s brilliant, particularly when
the Welsh fans go down and it
becomes a competition of who
can be the loudest.’
Warburton delivered positive
injury updates on Dan Biggar,
George North, Josh Navidi and
Liam Williams, who are all fit.
Biggar went off early for
Northampton against
Saracens on Saturday having
hyper-extended a knee, but
Wales will give him everychance to start the big match at
Twickenham. ‘At this stage,
we’re confident,’ said
Warburton.
‘They would wait for a player
like Dan. It puts our team
selection on hold for a while
because we have to wait to see
how he turns up. He’s ticking all
the boxes.’
After a head-knock against
France, North is expected to
play, as are Williams and
flanker Navidi, who has had
hamstring trouble.From Back Page21
LIAM WILLIAMS scored
21 tries in 31 games for
Saracens after moving
from Scarlets in 2017,
including a try on his last
appearance for the club in
the Premiership final
victory over Exeter
last June.He could have put
everyone at risk
they could have told him to alter
his route had the issue been flagged
up in advance. Alternative flight
routes via America were available,
but the issue was not picked up
until hours before the squad had
gathered at Pennyhill Park.
If the matter had not been raised
and Vunipola had come into camp,
the entire squad would now have
been at risk.
England were reluctant to divulge
any specifics on Vunipola’s absence
yesterday, with forwards coach
Matt Proudfoot initially claiming
he was absent because of a ‘medi-
cal issue’. When pressed on the
matter, he insisted: ‘I can guaran-
tee you it is not coronavirus.’
But eventually the RFU con-
firmed Vunipola’s absence was for
precautionary isolation.
An RFU spokeswoman said:
‘Mako Vunipola is not in the camp
on medical grounds. He is not sick,
but it is a precaution.’
The virus has already wreaked
havoc on the tournament, with
Ireland’s game against Italy in
Dublin cancelled because of fears
about mass gatherings. However,Vunipola’s absence is softened by
the form of fellow props Joe Marler
and Ellis Genge. Marler has built a
reputation as England’s strongest
scrummager, while Genge is a fine
impact player.
‘We were excited to have Mako
back, but we have great depth in
our looseheads and they have been
playing well,’ said Proudfoot.
Marler and Genge were last night
retained in a 27-man squad, which
also included Mark Wilson, the
versatile back-rower. Wilson was
sidelined by injury after the World
Cup but could make his comeback
after returning to action for Sale,
where he is spending the season on
loan from Newcastle.
Speedster Anthony Watson is also
in the squad and could make his
first England appearance since the
World Cup final.Chess king Tuilagi is
out to check the Welsh
Good to
be back:
Williams in
training
with Wales
hUW EVANS77
Vunipola: flew via Hong Kong
Opening gambit: Tuilagi likes
to attack from the off gEtty iMAgEStod for the past few weeks, which
is tough.’
Looking at Welsh rugby’s new
era from the stands, he has seen
what head coach Wayne Pivac is
trying to implement — having
been coached by the New Zea-
lander at the Scarlets — and
believes it will take time for it all
to gel. ‘We are still learning how
the coaches coach, and they are
learning how we operate,’ he
explains.
At Twickenham, Williams will
face his former Saracens team-
mates Jamie George, Maro
Itoje, Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly,George Kruis and Ben Earl.
He cannot wait.
‘I used to go up to Penlan
Rugby Club near Swansea with
my dad and brother to watch
games and there was a different
feeling for the England-Wales
game,’ he says.
‘It’s the biggest one for us here
in Wales, isn’t it? The boys are
excited. Everybody is on edge.’
That is where Williams likes it;
out of the frying pan of salary
cap politics and into the fire of
the Six Nations.
‘It’s lovely to be back,’ he says.
‘This is what I get paid to do!’Mako mess is just embarrassing
MANU T UILAGI is England’s mas-
ter of destruction on the pitch —
and he is building an equally fierce
reputation on the chess board.
The powerhouse centre, who rat-
tled Ireland No 10 Johnny Sexton
with his early carries in England’s
victory last time out, has clearly
been working on fast starts.
Snatching an early try has been a
big focus of England’s preparations
for Wales, but Tuilagi has extended
the approach beyond rugby.
England have formed a chess
league in camp at Pennyhill Park —
with Jonny May providing the main
competition.
‘I started playing in Japan during
the World Cup. I’m obsessed with
it,’ said Tuilagi. ‘We play quite a few
games between training. If I’m
white, I’ll attack. If you’re white
you have the opportunity to attack
first. When you attack, you have to
go all in because as soon as you let
your foot off the gas, you’ll be losing.
Jonny May’s the grandmaster, but
we’re even at the moment.’
As for his approach on the pitch,Tuilagi added: ‘Pretty much the
same! I just want to get the ball in
my hands as early as possible;
try to get some momentum. With
Eddie Jones, you’ve got to go from
the start.’
Tuilagi could be reunited in the
centre with Henry Slade for the first
time since the World Cup.
Both players have been hit by
injuries but Jones now has the
option to rejig his midfield for the
Twickenham clash.
‘I love having Henry back in the
team,’ said Tuilagi. ‘I just give him
the ball and try to follow him around
because he’s an all-round player —
run, kick, pass.’
Slade added: ‘I think the reason it
works so well is because we have
different strengths and weaknesses
that complement each other nicely.
He gets us over the gain line really
well, but we can also use him as
a decoy.
‘We get on pretty well off the pitch,
too — but he kills me at chess!’By Nik SimoN
By SiR CLiVE
WooDWARD
COMMENT
MAKO VuNIpOLA’S unavailability
for the rest of the Six Nations
leaves me shaking my head at
what goes on in the England
camp sometimes.
And I want to make a distinction
between the RFu, where lots of
people do their jobs brilliantly
with little acknowledgement,
and the England set-up, where
I am baffled about the chain of
command. Is there one?
Most importantly, why did
England try to pass this off
initially as a medical issue with
no further information, having
told us earlier in the week that
Mako was safely coming back
from Tonga where he had
travelled for personal reasons?
The media will always find out
one way or another, so just put
your hands up from the start and
admit a mistake.
You may look and feel a bit daft
for a day, but everybody moves
on. under no circumstances try
to hoodwink the media — there
is only one winner in situations
like this!
Then there are the logistics ofhow Mako was allowed to come
back via Hong Kong, given the
need for self-isolation for
anybody returning from that
part of the world.
Who, if anybody, from the
England set-up was in touch with
Mako during his trip back home
to Tonga? I assume somebody
was keeping him in the loop on
developments and discovering
whether he would be available
for the Wales match.
Given that he rushed out there
over a personal issue, surely
somebody within the England
set-up should have sorted out
the logistics for him and, as soon
as the coronavirus situation
escalated, come up with a route
back via Auckland and the uSA or
perhaps even South America?In pure playing terms, this isn’t a
massive setback. What with
injuries as well, England have not
seen a huge amount of Mako
recently and in Ellis Genge and
Joe Marler they have two great
replacements.
As I have argued elsewhere, this
might be the time for Genge to
assume a starting role above a fit
and healthy Mako.
But none of this sends out a great
message regarding England
being on top of things.
Think back to the World Cup final
when they arrived 35 minutes
late and Owen Farrell had to rush
out for the coin toss not really
knowing which end was which
when asked what he wanted to
do. Those are just a couple of the
more obvious examples of how
the detail and distractions
played a major role in England’s
non-performance.
Attention to detail is everything
in sport at this level.
To be world-class on the field of
play you have to be world-class
off the field of play. Frankly, this is
just embarrassing.